“I was wrong to do what I did, but everything was decided by the patrol leader Marco Camuffo.” This is the version given to state prosecutors by Pietro Costa, one of the two carabinieri accused of raping two US students a week ago in Florence. His defence strategy is evident: to play down his role and show that he fell in line, even if he cannot deny that he had sexual intercourse with the woman. Both the officers admit this, although they argue that “there was no violence; it was a moment of weakness. The students insisted on inviting us home.” Their statements raise new, disturbing questions about their conduct, but also about what happens during night-time patrols.

Phone numbersCosta says he was aware that “he was not allowed to give the women a lift home”, but implies that he raised no objections “because it was Camuffo who took the decision”. In fact, both of them went into the Flo nightclub and chatted to the two students before accompanying them home. They also managed to get their mobile phone numbers off them, as Costa’s lawyer, Andrea Gallori, confirms. The young women evidently trusted them, and were reassured by the fact that they were being taken to the house where they had been living for a few weeks by two men in uniform. Instead, as they told police, this friendly gesture turned into a nightmare when the carabinieri “assaulted and raped us”.

Heavy drinking“We didn’t realize they were drunk,” claim the two carabinieri. The first results of the blood tests carried out on the women came through yesterday, and showed “significant” levels of alcohol four hours after sexual intercourse, i.e. when they were examined in hospital. Was it possible that the carabinieri, who were used to working on the streets at night, failed to notice anything strange? And in any case, if the women were feeling fine, why did they decide to give them a lift home? Perhaps because they had already decided to take advantage of the situation? “Experts will have to determine how much the women’s ability to think straight was influenced by alcohol,” commented state prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo.

Night dutyPending the outcome of further investigations, magistrates are focusing on what happened that night. They aim to establish how nobody in the operations room realized that the patrol car had entered an area outside its assigned beat and had failed to state its position for over two hours. With the introduction of counter-terrorism procedures, most of the cars used by the forces of order are equipped with GPS systems. Is it possible that their Fiat Bravo was an exception? Over the coming days, military investigators will question the two carabinieri and their colleagues, also to establish whether such visits to nightclubs, in particular Flo, and “deviations” are isolated cases, and whether other officers have also visited the premises when on night duty.